Mrs Mallard Lives example essay topic

The way that a character portrays him or herself in a short story, contributes greatly to the sucess of that piece of literature. In "The Story of an Hour", written by Kate Chopin, there are only a few characters but the main one is Mrs. Mallard, a soft-spoken lady with heart trouble. In this story she seems to be the "victim" of an overbearing but sometimes loving husband. Even though Mrs. Mallard is unhappy in her marriage, she is still too afraid to say anything to her husband. Many people say that Mrs. Mallard is a cold-hearted woman who rejoices at her husbands death, yet others say that her husband is the one to blam for her reaction. I, on the other hand, agree with both sides because they both contributed to Mrs. Mallards actions.

Everyone has their own opinion, but who can say which one is right. I belive that there are thousands of women all over the world who live in a place where their every move is made by their spouse. In "The Story of an Hour", Mrs. Mallard lives and breathes every word that her husband speaks. Even though she did what her husband told her to do that didn't make her a weak person. Holding all of her emotions back just to satisfy Mr. Mallard made her a stronger character. "She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength", this is how the text described her, which supports my opinion of her overwhelming strength.

Mrs. Mallard appeared to be very unhappy with her marriage. She was so unhappy that she rejoiced at the news of her husbands death. In a way she felt trapped by her husbands ability to make choices for her. "She said it over and over under her breath: 'free, free, free!' " These were the words of Mrs. Mallard after pondering the idea of her husbands tragedy. She had never been able to do things for herself or live life to the fullest and she made that clear when she said that "There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself". Mrs. Mallard was glad that she would finally be able to live life for herself instead of her husband, so she was in a sense "free".

Even though Mr. Mallard made her unhappy at times, she was still too afraid to say anything to him. She might not have even realized her unhappiness until the opportunity arose for her to consider her options. She cared more for her husbands happiness and that showed a great deal of sacrifice. There's a lot of controversy about Mrs. Mallards character in this story. Some people say that she is a shameful excuse of a wife who didn't care about her husband. They thought that she was a cold-hearted woman who rejoiced over her husbands death without even knowing for sure that he was dead.

There are also people who thought that she was a sacrificial wife who was trapped in a marriage by an overbearing husband who didn't even love her. I personally agreed with some parts of both opinions. I don't think that Mrs. Mallard should have kept completely silent about her feelings towards her husband, but Mr. Mallard was too pushy. Overall, Mrs. Mallards ability to bite her tongue was a main reason as to why she was so unhappy. If she had been honest from the beginning of their marriage then she might not have ended up in her husbands so-called tragedy of death. There are many different ways to analyse the characteristics of Mrs. Mallard in "The Story of an Hour".

Some might say that she was a polite young woman who minded her husband, while others would say that she was a cruel person that didn't have any feelings. Either way, Mrs. Mallards character will be a topic that no one will be able to agree on!